There is a fabulous full moon illuminating the countryside tonight, with Mars nearby and clearly visible to the eye. I love the way you can see all the markings, especially Tycho the large crater near the bottom. But I think of friends and wonder if they are looking at the moon right now.

On a bitter cold friday afternoon, I joined a group of photographers and the editor of DSLR User magazine at the Ribblehead Viaduct in an attempt to see if we could light it with torches. Great fun despite having frozen feet from standing in 3 inches of icy water for several hours. The viaduct shot (above) was taken in complete darkness with a 10 minute exposure at f8.

I have always loved pigeons (the street kind) and consider them an integral part of modern city life, busily pecking away at the remains of thrown away food and human garbage. Anyway I couldn’t resist a quick shot on my iPhone!

Garden birds are incredibly difficult to photograph and they frequently fly off before you have time to press the shutter button. Much of saturday was spent trying to take some decent wildlife shots. I use the Canon 55-200mm lens rather than the Sigma 150-400mm lens as it’s sharper. The shots are ok but not great and lack any real excitement. If the snow stays a little longer I might have another go.

Happy New Year! Apologies for not making any posts in December but it was the usual pre-Christmas rush of work. The Christmas period was spent installing and getting to grips with the latest versions of Dreamweaver and PhotoShop.

2010 promises to be a really exciting year with the launch of Apple’s much rumoured iSlate (but the name doesn’t sound like an Apple branding), a general election, hopefully the end of the recession, Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula 1 and Burnley FC surviving their first year in the Premiership (fingers crossed).

I have a number of new websites to launch throughout January, and am eager to take on new projects/clients for a year of change and challenge. I hope to continue developing my photography and hence the shots here.

I received an email in July asking permission to make a painting based on one of my photos. The request came from Ruben in Brazil and was refreshingly polite. I took it as a great compliment that someone would want to do this and of course said yes. Imagine my surprise and delight today when Ruben emailed a photo of the finished painting. Love the red background!

Throughout November and December the seals in Lincolnshire return to the sand dunes to have their pups (832 at the last count). I spent saturday at RAF Donna Nook in the freezing rain trying to get a few good shots. I recommend a visit if you get the chance and the haunting calls of the seals will stay in your soul over the winter months. [ more photos ]

I visited Simon Annand’s excellent exhibition The Half at The Lowry in Manchester on a wet saturday afternoon. Black and white portraits taken over 25 years give a rare glimpse into those intimate moments as actors prepare for the stage. Everyone from Daniel Craig to Joss Ackland is here, and beautifully captured. It was certainly an inspiration for my own theatre photography.

Because I regularly photograph the Yorkshire & Northumberland coasts, I was keen to see The Sea, an exhibition of paintings by Maggi Hambling and L.S. Lowry also at The Lowry. Maggi’s sumptuous, dramatic sea studies contrasted perfectly against Lowry’s calm, fragile paintings. Thankfully, not a matchstick man in sight!

Note: The photo was taken on my iPhone and I recently came across a website devoted to iPhone photography. Have a look:  www.iphoneography.com

Designers frequently refer to their work as innovative, yet it rarely is. However, Dyson have just launched a range of fans without blades – the Dyson Air Multiplier. Without blades it’s safer, easier to clean and produces a consistent airflow without buffeting. It’s also stunning to look at! Only ‘but’ is…that it’s autumn, with winter fast approaching.

I made the journey to Northallerton this afternoon for the final day of Steve Gosling’s excellent exhibition at Joe Cornish’s photographic galleries (my fourth visit this year). Inspired, I set off to climb Roseberry Topping (above) in 60mph winds. I could barely stand at the summit and the wind whipped my brown glasses from my face and tossed them into a field of brown bracken, where they remain.

Above: I could not resist photographing this group of men admiring the 360° view from the top of Roseberry Topping and below, approaching rain on the descent.